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Coyotes-Wolves-Cougars.blogspot.com

Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions.
This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization.
Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick

In the meantime, I received a letter from Joe N. Brown, who now lives in Sonora
but spent more than 25 years of his life ranching in Pecos, Terrell and Brewster
counties. "I am aware of what predators are capable of doing to a rancher's
bottom line," he said.

The Preliminary Draft Environmental Assessment for the Implementation of a
SouthwesternGray Wolf Management Plan, released Dec. 17 for review and comment by the U.S. Fish& Wildlife Service, called for re-establishing the wolves in New Mexico, Arizona and West Texas.

Whittley presented a map during the livestock association's meeting at the
Angelo State
University Management, Instruction & Research Center that showed
the West
Texas line running from Amarillo to Lubbock to San Angelo to Del Rio.

West Texas lands, which are ideal breeding grounds for large predators,
encompass
the Davis Mountains and the Pecos River watershed in Jeff Davis, Brewster,
Pecos,
Terrell and Val Verde counties.

The Big Bend region in Brewster County includes Big Bend Ranch State
Park, Black
Gap Wildlife Management Area and Big Bend National Park, which is
contiguous to
Parque Natural Sierra Maderas del Carmen (northern Coahuila, Mexico,
south of Big
Bend National Park).

Brown sent a picture of him with a wolf he trapped in South Pecos County
in January 1971.

"These wolves will not stay west of the Pecos River," he said. "They will go
where the food
supply is located, i.e. the Concho Valley and the Edwards Plateau."

According to the September 1972 issue of Journal of Mammalogy, B.F
. Anderson shot a
male gray wolf on the Cathedral Mountain Ranch, 17 miles south of Alpine
in Brewster County
, on Dec. 5, 1970.

"Measurements (in millimeters) were as follows: total length, 1435; length of
tail, 400; length
of hind foot, 246; and ear from notch, 127. The eviscerated carcass weighed
28.12 kilograms.
The wolf appeared to have been in good condition, and tooth wear indicated
it to be
approximately 2.5 years old. The hunter kept the skin but donated the skull to
Sul Ross State University," the article said.

Dr. Paul Wyerts, with the animal science department at Sul Ross at the time,
viewed both
the wolf killed on the Cathedral ranch and the one Brown trapped.

"The skulls of both wolves indicate that they were about the same age, and
the circumstances
of time and place of capture raises the possibility that they were littermates,
" he said.

Although the Fish and Wildlife Service is now planning to release wolves
only in Colorado
and
parts of New Mexico, word is they may decide to draft a Plan B,
Whittley said.

Two Massachusetts Eastern Coyotes at their den site

Eastern Wolf in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

Aldo Leopold--3 quotes from his SAN COUNTY ALMANAC

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."

Aldo Leopold

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

Aldo Leopold

''To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."

Wildlife Rendezvous

Like so many conscientious hunters and anglers come to realize, good habitat with our full suite of predators and prey make for healthy and productive living............Teddy Roosevelt depicted at a "WILDLIFE RENDEZVOUS"

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Blog Disclaimer

This is a personal weblog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time…I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of my various thoughts and opinions, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not be the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today. All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Rick Meril and WWW.COYOTES-WOLVES-COUGARS.COM make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.